MA Short Film Festival 2023 on now

The LJMU MA Short Film Festival runs this week until Friday 31 March. It’s in its third edition and features 42 films from across the globe that showcase the work of the best and brightest emerging student filmmakers.

This year there’s an additional category, Experimental Film, featuring entries that challenge the idea of conventional filmmaking.

As always, this year’s submissions will be looking forward to taking home the prized ‘Paper Bird’ Award for Best Fiction, Documentary, Animated, and Experimental Film, while viewers will have the chance to vote for their favourite to receive the Audience Award.

The full programme for this year is available for online viewing at the festival website from Friday 24 to Friday 31 March.

Created by students, run by students

Created by students as part of the module ‘Exploring Film Festivals, Distribution and Exhibition’, the LJMU MA Short Film Festival is a unique and innovative educational experience that is exclusive to Liverpool John Moore’s University.

Under the direction of Dr Lydia Papadimitriou and Martin Jones, the festival is organised exclusively by MA students who take on the necessary roles for a film festival to happen, including selecting and programming films, liaising with filmmakers, organizing social media promotion and publicity, designing posters and trailers, running Q&As and more.

James Roberts, MA Student and Festival Co-organiser, said: “This module has given me the opportunity to learn new skills and work collaboratively with fellow filmmakers. Being part of the editing team for the festival has allowed me to express my creativity.”

1,400 films submitted to this year's festival 

The call for this year’s submissions went out in early 2023 and we received a staggering 1,400 films from almost 100 countries, which were then viewed and debated by the student programming team. The standard of this year’s submissions was particularly high, which meant that selecting only 42 finalists was a real challenge, but we’re proud to be able to promote the work of fellow student creatives.

Jory Metcalf-Judge, MA Student and Festival Co-organiser, said: “My experience programming this festival has opened my eyes to how the beating heart of the city can be represented through cinema. From experimental film to more outspoken social commentaries, these films showcase the expanding cultural landscape of cities across the world.”

Of the 42 films that form the programme, there are: 10 Fiction short films, 11 documentaries 16 animated shorts, and 5 Experimental Short Films.  

Across the four strands student films from 22 different countries are featured, including work from Senegal, Hungary, New Zealand, Austria, Italy, Poland, Indonesia, Argentina, Singapore, and Ecuador.

Get involved in the festival

The full programme is available on the festival’s website.

Follow @ljmumasff on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn

All films are available to view until Friday 31 March.